Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnamese shares retreated from a two-day gain as blue chips ran into profit-taking after recent gains brought some of them to their highest-ever prices.
The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange lost 1.3 percent to finish at 666.69 points, down from a two-day increase of 3.5 percent.
The HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange closed down 0.8 percent at 86.68 points from a two-day gain of 1.6 percent.
“Large-cap stocks on both local exchanges turned into negative territory as investors sought profits after the markets had two gaining sessions,” Sai Gon-Hanoi Securities Corp wrote in its daily report.
Banks, securities firms, real estate developers, energy companies and steel producers saw the biggest share declines having made significant increases on expectations of record earnings during the second quarter of the year.
The banking sector was led down by Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (VCB) and Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (CTG).
VCB fell 2.6 percent from a five-day rally of 15 percent, and CTG dropped 1.6 percent after rising nearly 10 percent in the previous three days.
Sai Gon-Hanoi Securities Corp (SHS), VNDirect Securities Corp (VND), Sai Gon Securities Inc (SSI) and HCM City Securities Corp (HCM) drove the brokerage sector down.
SSI was down 2.1 percent, VND declined by 1.5 percent, SHS dropped 1.6 percent and HCM slumped 3.9 percent.
SSI soared 17 percent during the previous eight sessions, while VND, SHS and HCM respectively pulled back 6.2 percent, 9.4 percent and 2.1 percent in the previous two days.
Vingroup JSC (VIC), Kinh Bắc City Development Holding Corp (KBC), Sai Gon Thuong Tin Real Estate JSC (SCR) and Dream House Investment Corp (DRH) weighed on the real estate sector.
These stocks respectively retreated 2.7 percent, 1.2 percent, 4.5 percent and 2.6 percent from two-day increases of 7.8 percent, 5.6 percent, 5.8 percent and 7.6 percent.
Leading steel producers such as Hoa Phat Group (HPG) and Hoa Sen Group (HSG), and energy firms such as PetroVietnam Gas Corp (GAS) and PetroVietnam Technical Service Corp (PVS) also slid from previous gains.
Investors exchanged nearly 226 million shares on both local bourses worth 4 trillion VND (180.4 million USD), a decrease of 11.4 percent from the previous session’s trading value.-VNA
